Education

Bar Admissions

Michigan

A proven problem-solver with a knack for taking on the toughest challenges, Megan Norris can handle any issue related to employment.

Megan counsels her clients on all conceivable day-to-day employment matters, ranging from helping to determine appropriate discipline to advising them on conducting sexual harassment investigations to developing plans of action for handling difficult employees.

In the courtroom, Megan defends her clients against a wide range of employment-related claims, including discrimination, harassment, and tort claims such as intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation. As a nationally recognized expert on the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) (for which Megan also handles non-employment matters such as cases involving student disabilities) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Megan also does a great deal of training on those laws as well as such areas as discipline and discharge and sexual harassment.

When a client calls with a difficult situation, such as how to handle a problem employee, Megan focuses on devising a solution that avoids litigation. For her clients, it is an enormous relief when issues that seemed intractable and overwhelming can be resolved out of court. When litigation is the only option, Megan sees the key to success as getting a full understanding of the client’s business and motivations so that she can help a jury understand the thoughtful and well-intentioned people whose actions are being challenged.

Representative Matters

A client wanted to terminate a high-level executive without litigation. With her extensive background in such matters, Megan helped the client articulate the issues at hand and understand the executive’s motivation. She then helped the client devise a process that made it possible for the executive to gracefully accept the termination.

In a case that went to court, Megan successfully defended a client in a difficult sexual harassment trial by helping the jury understand that her client reacted to the plaintiff’s behavior in the same way a juror might -- not as nameless, faceless, cold-hearted corporation but as a human being.

Honors

Best Lawyers in America, 2015 Detroit Employment Law-Management Lawyer of the Year; Labor and Employment Law 2003-2011; Employment Law-Management and Litigation-Labor and Employment 2012-present

"The Americans With Disabilities Act," Michigan Association of Educational Data Systems, October 1992

"The Americans With Disabilities Act and Patient Care," Michigan Home Health Association, July 1992

"Handling a Workers' Disability Compensation Lawsuit in Michigan," Federal Bar Association New Lawyers Seminar, December 1991, June 1992, and December 1992

"The Americans With Disabilities Act," Lenawee Training and Education Consortium, June 1992

"An Overview of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Michigan Handicappers' Civil Rights Act;" and "Defamation and Privacy Issues," Washtenaw Community College Labor and Employment Law Conference, April 1991

"Defamation in the Public Relations Context," Greater Detroit Public Relations Counselors' Public Relations and the Law Seminar, March 1991